Why Mercedes' "worst Friday" leaves it behind Alfa in Baku so far, as Red Bulls run riot
As Red Bull looked in dominant form during Friday practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday, title rival Mercedes was left with a lot of head scratching to do after finding itself behind a number of other teams on one-lap pace - which could have big ramifications come raceday
The 2021 Formula 1 title fight is a two-horse race between Red Bull and Mercedes, with the former leading the way by one point in the constructors’ championship after the opening five rounds of the campaign.
But after two practice sessions for this year’s 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the centre of Baku, there are five other teams currently nestled between F1’s usual frontrunners: Ferrari, AlphaTauri, Alpine, Alfa Romeo and McLaren.
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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.
A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.
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